The Mongols and the Islamic World: From Conquest to Conversion

I had a very hard time reading this book, and wanted to quit several times, but then decided to push through in order to provide this review.If you ever decide to read this book, in spite of my sincere advice, start from the Epilogue, because everything that is wrong with this book is contained therein; maybe you will change your mind. First, the language is so dense, word choice awkward and intimidating, sentence structure so convoluted that I had to re-read it few times to get what the writer (Peter) wanted to say. It seems that he was deliberately trying to make it such that people struggle reading it, him probably basking in the expanse and glory of English language. Or he just wanted to impress his academic colleagues, which becomes likely when reading positive reviews of this and other of his books, written in the same mechanical, boring style.No doubt Peter accumulated a lot of facts about this historical period, but in order to make it accessible to readers these facts need to be presented in the organized and palatable manner, otherwise reader is lost in the forest of names, events, or opinions of chroniclers.As for the content, it seems that Peter' attitude is to in any possible way diminish the extent of brutality, destruction, carnage of Mongol invasion and justify it as a prevalent way of warfare at that time (“The Mongols seem, on the whole to have observed the same laws of war as other powers had done…”). Amazing! It is common knowledge that in terms of senseless killings of millions Mongols stand close to other infamous villains of history: Stalin, king Leopold, Hitler, however having in mind that Mongols killed their mostly defenseless victims by hand (knife, sword, axe), their savagery surpasses everything the world has seen. But Peter concludes his Epilogue saying that "we have come a long way from 'hated alien conquerors', 'cold and deliberate genocide'..." as if these notions are ways of the past and non-existent today. On the other hand he makes every effort to find positive contributions of Mongol rule: in "simplification of commercial taxes", "a rise in demand for certain commodities", "dethesaurization of considerable quantities of silver", which all ring hollow. And yes, you read the word “dethesaurization” right, now go look it up. His statement that "the era of Mongol domination...stimulated intellectual and cultural activity in the Islamic world" is just ludicrous. With what did the Mongols stimulate it? With brutal killings and butchery? Can anyone cite any cultural or civilizational advancement that the Mongols brought to the conquered peoples? Of course not, and everybody knows that, but Peter.Peter frequently sprinkles the chapters with his ideological bias: most of the chronicles from Muslim historians are qualified or doubted; Peter considers them exaggerated because they spoke out of hate for Mongols. Conversely, any writing of western travelers or papal envoys are taken without any qualification, as pure truth. Orientalism at its best! And not to mention Peter’s use of widely discredited word “Infidel” that no serious historian, researcher, sociologist would use, unlike homophobic extremists and religious zealots. On the other hand what is missing from this book is the detail sociological or anthropological explanation how come less than 50 years after the sack of Baghdad 3 out of 4 Mongol (Ilkhanid) khanates become predominantly Muslim. Peter’s explanation of conversion is at elementary school level, and focuses mainly on who initiated it: the Mongol leaders or their army.To sum it up, even if you read this book I doubt you will retain much, which defies the purpose we read books: to educate ourselves. You will be better off watching few Youtube videos on this topic, whatever the source.

This is an excellent alternative if you want to expand beyond some of the popular histories of the Mongol conquests that have been written recently. Like colleagues David Morgan and George Lane, Peter Jackson is a respected expert in the field. In this work, he offers a fresh look at the effects the Mongol empire had on the Islamic world. This might not be the first book you would read on the Mongols, but it could be the second if you have also read about the earlier spread of Islam.After an introduction to the medieval sources, chapters on Central Asia before the conquests, the origins of the Mongols and their westward military advances are delivered without delay. Political consolidation, further campaigns, the breakup of unified rule and the advent of internecine warfare are reviewed in a forthright fashion. Topical sections follow on the so-called Pax Mongolica and intercontinental commerce, Muslim states as client kingdoms, and the eventual Islamization of the infidel rulers.Jackson does not refute the initial conquests under Genghis Khan were likely the most brutal and bloody that the world had seen. It could hardly be argued otherwise, although the primary accounts include varying degrees of hyperbole. After decades of depredation between the initial assaults on Kwarezm in 1220 to the defeat of the Baghdad caliphate in 1258, an effort to restore the cities of Islam began. This was done mainly through the efforts of Muslim survivors for the benefit of their Mongol rulers.The 1260 reversal by the Mamluks in Syria and the ascension of Kublai Khan in China marked the start of forty years of inter-Mongol fighting that split the empire into four separate khanates. These wars brought further destruction and strife to the region. In the intermittent periods of peace that followed, the Mongol Ilkhanate (present-day Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan) and China's Yuan Dynasty revived traditional communication routes between the near and far east, promoting trade and cultural exchange.With regards to Islam, Mongol law forbade imposing a state religion. Tolerance of religious pluralism had been typical in past empires, perhaps with the exception of the Byzantines. In contrast to Muslim rule, the early Mongols treated all faiths equally, ended special taxes on non-Muslims, and contravened other aspects of Islamic law when it conflicted with their own beliefs. Over time most of the Mongols in the three western Khanates would become Muslim, and far less forbearing.Much has been said in recent years of the Mongols religious tolerance, empowerment of women and enablement of commerce. Some of this is shown here to be anachronistic or at least overly simplistic. It is not argued unequivocally that Mongols made major civilizational advances over prior empires. With the exception of several brief reigns of regents, men continued to monopolize power. Jackson shows Mongol rule was not as oppressive as previously regarded, and fostered world connectivity.This work is a sophisticated look at the evidence available. Many books relegate sources to footnotes and bibliographies. Jackson integrates these materials into the text. This is tedious unless you really want to know how the information was derived. The last third of this book goes deeply into the religious and genealogical justifications of the later Ilkhanate rulers, which was obscure and difficult to process. The focus on the Muslim milieu opens an enlightening window into a pivotal period of history.

This book analyzes the ways in which the Mongols attempted to incorporate Islam into their lives as leaders of the Islamic countries and also how the newly conquered Muslims dealt with the Mongols before and after they converted to Islam.

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This book brings both chronological events as well as some brief general parts. For example culture or art of war, which don’t necessarily need dates or names to be explained. And this is the part I enjoyed, and I think that is what would appeal to mass audience. The chronological events are detailed with dates and names (as anyone would expect), but this makes the read more appropriate for buffs of history.

This is a really excellent history of the Mongol Conquests, detailing both the conquests themselves, as well as the eventual contributions of Mongol rule.There's nothing really too controversial here: it is a simply a very expansive and very detailed book. For those unfamiliar with the subject beyond popular culture, some things may seem surprising, such as the notion that the Mongols were not simply bloodthirsty conquerors - in fact, they patronised art, literature, and the sciences to an enormous degree. There is one shockingly ignorant review on amazon.com that struggles to grasp that, and which actually prompted me to write this review in turn. However, this isn't really a new innovation, but is regarded as accepted fact within the field of Mongol studies, based on exhaustive analysis of primary and secondary source material, as well as physical evidence.In terms of reliability, Peter Jackson is a very well regarded authority on the Mongols and the Crusades in particular, and is also renowned as the translator of a great deal of original source material on both subjects into English. In other words, what you read here is not simply the idle blather of someone unfamiliar with the subject, but instead a genuinely expert opinion.The one caveat is that this is very much an academic book, and its main audience is intended to be academics and students. If you have the stamina, then by all means go ahead and buy this if you're simply an enthusiastic amateur - it's an excellent and very interesting book, with a great deal of insight to offer on a whole host of things, and you'll learn an awful lot. However, while Peter Jackson is a good author, this isn't going to be as *fun* to read as other books you might have come across, as being entertaining comes secondary to educating and informing.